The American Daniel Berger returns to competition this Thursday at the RSM Classic after more than three months out. During the third round of the BMW Championship last August, he fractured the ring finger on his right hand while trying to hit a ball from a bunker next to the green on the 14th hole at Caves Valley Golf Club. And although it’s never a good time to get injured, if he could have chosen, he wouldn’t have found better circumstances for him…
The 32-year-old golfer from Florida was able to complete that round, but he was no longer able to play on Sunday and had to withdraw from the tournament. A decision that mathematically left him out of the TOUR Championship, although by then, it was already very difficult for him to get into the top 30 that gave access to the tournament. “It was like the best possible scenario for something like this to happen. Obviously, you don’t want anything to happen, but what if it had happened in April?” the player said to the official circuit website this week.
Since then, Berger has been away from competition. He wore a splint on his finger for seven weeks and didn’t start hitting balls until early November. In 45th place in the FedEx, he has guaranteed rights for the next season, but he didn’t want to spend so much time without playing. And although it will take a few more months to fully recover, it was enough for the doctors to tell him that competing again wouldn’t worsen his situation to sign up for the RSM Classic.
“I’m not too worried about this week,” he said. “You know, I’m just playing because I didn’t want to take four months off,” he added. A return in which he will have to combat pain and inflammation with ice and painkillers, but in which he hopes to start regaining sensations before returning to action at the Grant Thornton Invitational in December, partnering with LPGA star Charley Hull.
For Berger, this reappearance at the RSM Classic also has special significance. Throughout his career, he has had to deal with injuries, like a back injury that prevented him from playing much of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, or some sporadic difficulties last year, where he couldn’t be in the designated events. These problems led him to the last event of the season outside the top 125 that guaranteed the cards and with the need to achieve a good result to maintain his playing rights.
He achieved it precisely at the RSM Classic, with a brilliant tied second place that allowed him to move from 127th position in the FedEx to 100th. Now, without those qualifying pressures after a season in which he has achieved a second place, two top 10s, and nine results among the top 25, with only four missed cuts in 21 tournaments, he takes this return to the Sea Island Golf Club as a new starting point. And in better conditions than he expected: “My game is in a good place considering I’ve been out for almost three months. I’ve been surprised.” Will he be able to fight for the win?
